Wopida Tanka, Great Thanksgiving to All!
In March 1972, my father had an unexpected and severe heart attack. I rushed home from San Diego, where I worked at the American Indian Career Center. I wept because I thought my dad had passed on to the "Other Side Camp," as he always called the Spiritual Worlds beyond.
I arrived at my Dad’s bedside. Although he could not speak with all the medical apparatus connected to him, I was very thankful I could see in my father’s eyes that he was not going to the Other Side Camp yet! He "stayed around to see how everything turned out," as he always said he would, for another 32 years.
After my father felt up to travel, I wanted to give Thanksgiving to honor his recovery when he and my mother visited me in San Diego. I called my Lala (Grandfather) Vine Deloria Sr. in South Dakota for counsel. He had been my Dakota Elder Advisor on these cultural and spiritual matters for many years.
My father was a very close relative to Lala Vine Sr. since birth. Vine Sr. was my Grandmother's younger brother. I remember my father often speaking about giving Thanksgiving for all that comes into our lives! He used to say, “If we can’t be happy and thankful today, what day are we waiting?
My Lala Vine Sr. echoed this same wisdom with me on the phone -- there were infinite ways to understand and give prayerful Thanksgiving and gratitude to the infinite Creator of All. One of those ways Lala shared was by "Feeding the People!" He suggested a Wopida Ceremony. So, without telling my parents, I flew my Lala Vine Sr. to San Diego to help me surprise my father and mother when they came to San Diego to visit me after my father’s recovery.
With the support of all the Sisters, their Children, and the Staff at the American Indian Career Center, we had a great Wopida Ceremony for my father's recovery. After eating, Lala Vine Sr. gave a great talk about the meaning of “Wopida Tanka.”
These are some perspectives about "Wopida Tanka" that I gleaned from Lala Vine Sr sharing:
Wopida Tanka (Great Thanksgiving ) is a Dakota word with profound, infinite, eternal meaning and transforming spiritual force. Wopida Tanka honors our Sacred Relationship with all Life of Mother Earth." Wopida Tanka is a State of Consciousness of joyful gratitude for all. Our Elders always tell us, “All Life is a Gift of our Great Spirit, including our tests and difficulties for which we should always give Great Thanksgiving!"
We are blessed by a great spiritual gift when we strive to make our lives, every thought, word, and action, a living Wopida Tanka. Whenever the innermost chambers of our hearts and souls are filled with thanksgiving, gratitude, and joy, our lives also naturally become filled with compassion, love, understanding, forgiveness, happiness, and oneness.
With our lives centered on Thanksgiving, there is no room left for the experience of fear, hate, prejudice, revenge, jealousy, loneliness, and disunity. Nothing remains that separates us and our Oneness with our Beloved Creator, our Human Family, and all Life, Seen and unseen.
This spiritual understanding of Wopida requires us to live with honor, compassion, love, respect, and harmony with all life, including ourselves! This spiritual wisdom and understanding recognizes that the Hurt of One is the Hurt of All, and the Honor of One is the Honor of All!
We are all Indigenous Peoples of Mother Earth, the Beloved Children of one Father and Mother. Each of us is a Sovereignty -- Ancient, Imperishable, and Everlasting. May we be infinitely and eternally thankful for all these blessings!
Wopida Tanka to All!
Brother Phil Lane Jr. and Family, Ihanktonwan Dakota, and Chickasaw Nations
